Amazon Digs Deeper Into Smart Home With Its Latest Acquisition

Amazon is expanding its smart home products today. The company announced it is acquiring mesh router company Eero for an undisclosed amount. The merger will see Eero continue to operate its brand independently and expand globally.

Amazon says the company’s acquisition of Eero will help its customers “better connect” smart home devices. Eero is one of the leading mesh router companies, paving the way for a bunch of other similar products — even from big companies like Google and Netgear. The company’s WiFi systems help users get a fast and reliable WiFi connection in all parts of their home with the mesh WiFi system, essentially working as a blanket.

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“We are incredibly impressed with the eero team and how quickly they invented a WiFi solution that makes connected devices just work,” said Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon Devices and Services. “We have a shared vision that the smart home experience can get even easier, and we’re committed to continue innovating on behalf of customers.”

Amazon’s acquisition of Eero will only make the company even stronger in the smart home world. Not only does it make Echo products and Alexa, but now it also owns WiFi systems that are the backbone of smart homes. Amazon also owns companies like Ring, so it’s trying to get to almost every part of your home. And as scary as that is, Amazon has effortlessly executed its smart home range, and there is no question it will continue to dominate the smart home market going forward.

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Conversation 29 comments

  • Thomas Parkison

    11 February, 2019 - 6:31 pm

    <p>Nope. Nope. Nope.</p>

    • martinusv2

      Premium Member
      11 February, 2019 - 6:47 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404180">In reply to trparky:</a></em></blockquote><p>Well it's was bound to happen. Amazon will have a competitor to Google Wifi.</p>

  • BigM72

    11 February, 2019 - 7:05 pm

    <p>I think if you had to bet on a platform for the smart home, Amazon is a smart choice. They may not have the level of intelligence that Google can bring to assistants nor the mobile phone presence but they work with a wide range of partners and are aggressively acquiring to build out the portfolio, skills etc.</p><p><br></p><p>Ring, Blink, Amazon microwave, Fire TV, Echo and now Eero. That's hardware and they obviously know cloud services too being the biggest service provider in that market. I haven't seen any overt integration offering yet but maybe they are still collecting jigsaw pieces. (And you don't necessarily need devices to talk to each other directly but stitch it all together in the cloud back-end instead).</p>

  • waethorn

    11 February, 2019 - 7:31 pm

    <p>I just want to post this very pertinent tidbit of information.</p><p><br></p><p>noagendasocial.com/system/media_attachments/files/001/629/301/original/b887e4ed18689eac.jpg</p>

    • coreyp

      12 February, 2019 - 8:50 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404188">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>Your memes are bad</p>

    • YouWereWarned

      12 February, 2019 - 3:42 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404188">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>Too bad you had to listen to hours of John Dvorak's right-wing pablum to score that Luddite graphic. No Agenda, while amusing for the tin-hat speculation, is not much of a technical resource. And while I agree that the consolidation of "tech" into the hands of a few is not good news, the graphic above ignores all of the the data-sucking performed by your browser, OS, and internet access provider. There is nowhere to hide if you are in any fashion connected.</p>

      • waethorn

        12 February, 2019 - 7:22 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#404426">In reply to YouWereWarned:</a></em></blockquote><p>Why are you criticizing me in once sentence, and then the next, just agreeing with me? You have a lot to learn about making an argument.</p><p><br></p><p>Or are you saying you're just going to lay down and accept companies like Amazon turning the world into a surveillance state?</p>

  • SvenJ

    11 February, 2019 - 7:49 pm

    <p>I have looked at Eero as an option for upgrading my WiFi solution. They seem to have excellent gear. My only issue, and it is a show stopper for me, is they have no web browser based management. You access their devices/setup via Smartphone apps, period. I'm not managing my network, MAC address filtering, scheduling, troubleshooting, etc, from a 5" screen. There are massive threads on their support forum complaining about this with periodic company inputs, saying thanks for your interest, but we're not doing it. Oh well. Sadly they aren't unique in this in the mesh network space.</p>

    • harrymyhre

      Premium Member
      11 February, 2019 - 10:52 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404204">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>Perfect example of an interface that is better handled by a larger screen. </p>

      • lvthunder

        Premium Member
        12 February, 2019 - 11:25 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#404237">In reply to Harrymyhre:</a></em></blockquote><p>Not really. Eeros are nice because they are simple. It works quite well on the phone screen.</p>

    • ivarh

      Premium Member
      12 February, 2019 - 1:38 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404204">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thats what you want a 12.9" ipad pro for :)</p>

    • Skolvikings

      12 February, 2019 - 9:23 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404204">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>I've also been researching WiFi options and Eero is not the only ones that are only managed via a smartphone app. It's a new trend.</p>

    • joeaxberg

      Premium Member
      12 February, 2019 - 9:38 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404204">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>Have you looked at some of the other mesh wifi vendors? We have an Eero system at home. wifi rock solid. But most definitely NOT a power-user product. It is intended for the user who wants to turn it on and never touch it again and doesn't care about DMZ's, MAC filtering, scheduling, etc. </p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      12 February, 2019 - 11:28 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404204">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>They can't do a web management screen without changing the whole system. There is no user facing admin password because it's tied to your phone number and now recently your email address. Unless you explicitly logout then you just use the app to administer it. If you do log out of the app you type in your phone and they text you a code. You type that in and it lets you back in. No passwords to remember.</p><p><br></p><p>It's designed to be simple to use and not for the power user. </p>

    • Dashrender

      Premium Member
      12 February, 2019 - 3:06 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404204">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>There is no surprise here – this gear is intended for pure consumers – with entirely to much money. If you want a power user/business class solution, definitely look elsewhere, and likely for a ton less money.</p><p><br></p>

  • dcdevito

    11 February, 2019 - 9:17 pm

    <p>It's fascinating and simultaneously disappointing that the two smart home competitors are data aggregators and not traditional computing platforms. While I enjoy my Google Home ecosystem of devices, I'd be happy with just asking devices to turn lights on/off. Otherwise they're not that useful. I wish I didn't have to give up so much personal data to do this, seems totally unjustified. </p>

  • waethorn

    11 February, 2019 - 9:41 pm

    <p>Right. This is who you want controlling your network?</p><p><br></p><p>i.redd.it/4qau40k0p0g21.jpg</p>

  • waethorn

    11 February, 2019 - 9:44 pm

    <p>So, you have to wonder about the Bezos scandal, and that Amazon got their AWS signed on to Project Jedi with the US gov't. And who stands to benefit most from Amazon's failure in this? </p><p><br></p><p>Of course: Microsoft.</p><p><br></p><p>Nice job making Amazon look bad Microsoft. You'll surely get the US gov't on Azure now.</p>

    • Stooks

      12 February, 2019 - 7:48 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404232">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>So is the earth flat also?</p>

      • waethorn

        12 February, 2019 - 12:57 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#404313">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p>Either it's corporate incompetence, or corporate espionage. How do you want to look at it?</p>

  • Daishi

    Premium Member
    11 February, 2019 - 11:59 pm

    <p>So, Echo Wifi in the future then? With pods that are both an Echo Dot and a mesh network node in a single package? It feels like there’s a pretty obvious synergy there. </p>

  • Stooks

    12 February, 2019 - 7:51 am

    <p>Ummm yeah I will pass on this. Pretty much anything Google, Amazon, Facebook or Twitter is a pass for me if I can avoid it. </p>

    • VancouverNinja

      Premium Member
      12 February, 2019 - 4:50 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404314">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p>Why Amazon? My two best options right now are Microsoft and Amazon. </p>

  • cschlichter

    12 February, 2019 - 8:24 am

    <p>Fine by me…now Amazon, make both Ring and Eero premium services included with Amazon Prime….ok???</p>

  • waethorn

    12 February, 2019 - 11:35 am

    <p>Seems we have a lot of "Tech Enthusiasts" that visit this site, and not many real IT specialists.</p>

    • BlackForestHam

      12 February, 2019 - 2:34 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#404362">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Seems we have some guy who’s actually so <em>pathetic and lonely</em>, he spent money on a Thurrott Alpha subscription just to troll. Or maybe he’s mentally ill? Either way, S-A-D!</p>

      • Stooks

        12 February, 2019 - 3:02 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#404404">In reply to BlackForestHam:</a></em></blockquote><p>This! Funny!</p>

      • waethorn

        12 February, 2019 - 3:42 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#404404">In reply to BlackForestHam:</a></em></blockquote><p>And you didn't. Who's the troll again?</p>

  • bls

    Premium Member
    12 February, 2019 - 2:19 pm

    <p>Agree with the comments about it not being a WiFi for power users. I'm running it in bridge mode, still have my old router in place, because I want more control over DHCP than the eero DHCP server provides. That said, I haven't even **thought** about the eero since I installed it. It just works. And eero support was responsive and thorough. I'm not totally thrilled about Amazon acquiring them, but it makes great sense from the AMZN perspective, given their other technologies. I'm not making any knee-jerk decisions, but will be watching carefully…</p>

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